Faith, Family, Ministry, and Everything in between

Communication

The ability to persuade others with respect to biblical and theological truth through oral, written, and electronic media.

Overall Reflection Statement

For my competence in communication, I am submitting a preaching calendar which demonstrates I accomplished creating a plan to preach through the entirety of 1 John. I am also submitting a message presentation and outline which shows I created creative presentations to aid in my preaching of 1 John. Finally, I am submitting a video recording of me preaching a passage in 1 John to demonstrate my ability in presenting God’s Word to junior high and high school students in an effective, appealing, relevant manner. I was able to preach through the entire book of 1 John to the student ministry over the 2015-2016 school year. Each message followed the overall theme of 1 John and challenged students every time to examine their lives to see evidence for foundations of their salvation. As a bonus, and to give another example of my communication skills, there is also another video of me preaching on Jonah chapter 1 during a Sunday morning service.

Communications Artifacts

This is a teaching schedule I made back in August of 2015 preparing and planning for the upcoming year of student ministry gathering nights. I knew that I would teach through the book of 1 John as many of our students were either struggling with assurance, or believed they were saved, but we saw little to no evidence of such. I used the schedule to map out the passage I would preach, when I would preach it, a working sermon title, and other miscellaneous notes to help frame the year from the beginning.

This is a lesson I taught this past year at our weekly Wednesday night LIFE youth group gathering. I had been teaching through 1 John and the theme was Foundations of Confidence. In this particular lesson I share with students the foundational benefits of being in Christ, namely: a commendation, a confidence, and a comfort.

This PowerPoint presentation was made for my teaching on 1 John 3:19-24. After studying and outlining the passage for preaching, I passed my preaching outline on to my wife and she designed and made this presentation. I used the presentation during my teaching time as seen in the video above. I added pictures and videos throughout the presentation as illustrations to draw the points home. I use presentations similar to this most times that I teach, incorporating videos, pictures, life stories, and more as illustrations to grab and retain audience attention.

This is a word document preaching outline I used in preaching the message seen in the video above. I typically use the first page as the outline I take into the pulpit and the second page is a fill in the blank style outline for the audience to follow along and engage in the message. There are routinely 2-4 application questions at the bottom of these sheets for individual reflection and/or discussion guides for small group times at the end of the night or later in the week.

This is a message I preached to our church body during a Sunday morning worship service. I introduce the book of Jonah as well as preach through Jonah 1 showing that Resitance is Futile because of God’s Command, God’s Control, God’s Courier, and God’s work to Convert.

Learning Reflection

As I developed and demonstrated communication, I have learned preparation is key and helpful to effective preaching and teaching. In years past, I have not taken time to roughly outline an entire series I hope to preach on in the upcoming year or season. This has led to more stress and pressure during the year and in specific weeks where I was unsure where the next pericope would begin and end. However, by doing some outlining of the series at the beginning of the year, I gain more time to study, apply, and let the Scriptures percolate in my mind and heart before preaching it. This preparation also aids in planning certain topics at key times of the calendar. The preparation of a preaching calendar has been very helpful to me as well as to others as we plan our services and themes for the year.

Lifelong Development Statement

As a result of the experiences documented by these artifacts, I will continue to develop in communication by planning series and specific messages well in advance of the designated time to present God’s Word. I must consistently set aside time to read, study, and understand the flow of Scriptures I am preparing to preach or teach so that the Spirit works in my head, heart, and hands prior to me being used by God to share His truth with others. I must refuse to flippantly prepare to simply teach another truth from God’s Word. A surrendered and submitted teacher of God’s Word is a great weapon in the hands of God.